The Legend of the 33rd Sage - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Flow

The boy woke after sleeping for eighteen hours, with little or no memory of what had happened the day before. After waking he stretched both arms above his head as if to welcome in the day; little realizing that his partially paralyzed left arm was no longer paralyzed, there was still some scarring but during the night it was as if the withered muscle in his shoulder had come back to life. The healing had begun; there was no need for the old sage to acknowledge the changes, for that would be living in the past and there was only the now. He would one day teach Huo about the reality of time, but for the moment he would just allow him to exist in this point and time. The healing had occurred because he had begun to release the pain from the fire; a pain that he had caused himself but there was time enough later for revelations.

The old sage greeted this young apprentice, "From this time forward Huo we will rise at 4 a.m. and walk in the dark and allow our energy to go forth in the day before the animals in the forest or the people in the villages wake and fill the day with their energy. Each day we will let our feelings lead the way. We will rise in silence and stay silent for the first hour of our walk. As part of this exercise I would like you to silently ask the Tao a question you want answered in that day. If you are open to it the answer will come to you in any one of a hundred different ways. It could be a word or vision that comes around your subconscious mind, an answer from nature or someone we meet along the path; be open and the answer will come. Having the courage to give yourself over to the beauty of the higher self allows your life to enter into the dynamic spontaneity of the flow of the universe. It is about taking life as you find it rather than force it into you preconceived notion of the world. By giving the infinity within you credence you empower that same infinity to come into and be a part of your life. Let's now be silent for the next hour while we let spirit be our guide."

The young boy packed up his pack, put the long staff through it and tossed it over his shoulder. There was much he did not understand about the old sage. If there was one thing he was sure about, it was that his life would never be the same again. Until this journey with the old sage much of his time was spent talking to the elders of the village because they were the only one's that did not seem to be scared of his looks. He would sit and talk with them for hours. Most of them were uneducated and simple people, but if you delved deep enough you would find that they had a deep understanding of the cycles within nature and a knowledge of human nature that could not be found in the few books the village possessed. Each of the elders was like their own little library of information and Huo had consumed whatever they taught him. Even as a young boy he was well versed in the art of fishing and carpentry and his understanding of farming was not too shabby either. 'Not too shabby,' he laughed at that last thought because if he had a mirror he would have looked pretty shabby in his worn out clothes.

What question would he ask the Tao to answer? He mulled over that for about an hour, although for the most part it was at the back of his mind while he enjoyed the bounties of nature. It was cold when they first started out, but he loved the cold; in many ways it allowed him to bring forth his own nature. Even as a very young child he had a way of bringing up the fire from within his own being. He was never cold, even on the coldest winter night. All he had to do was imagine a fire and then he could draw the heat of the fire to himself. It was as if at will he could heat himself from within. Of course the ability was a two edge sword and this ability had been at the heart of the fire that had killed his parents. He had learnt early on that the element of Fire was either a boon or a curse depending on how you used it; he wondered momentarily about the other elements, but that soon passed and the element of fire; his element returned. For the first two years after the fire he stopped using the techniques until he realized that it was not the Fire that was the problem and that he would need to be careful when he used the element because he never wanted anybody to suffer at his hands again.

While walking silently and looking back on his life to date, he felt a gentle wind come around him; she caressed him with her icy fingers, not yet touched by the morning sun. He stopped for a moment to fully experience the wind when he realized that the wind was coming from within him. He reached out his hand and watched as the feeling of the wind, from within, wrapped itself around his fingers and then up his arm, until it came all the way up to his head and gently caressed his face. He looked deeply into the energy which surrounded him and knew at that moment that he was the wind. He was not sure yet whether he had created the wind or if he had become one with the wind. It did not matter for in that moment he realized that the illusion of separation no longer held him in her grasp. He had only been with a the sage a few days but in many ways he seemed years older than the young boy who left the village. He had seen the energy behind the form and no longer would he feel separate from anyone.

He took a moment to sit by himself and experience the connection with all things. First it was the Elements dancing around and through him, then it was the forest and the animals who were becoming active, not only could he seem them all he could feel them all and he had become them. It was then that it struck him. Tears began to escape from his eyes as he realized; if he were connected to everything then he was still connected to his parents and he began to understand what the old man had meant when he said "Nothing ever dies."

With tears streaming down his face he realized that the Tao had not only given him the answer to his question, it had done more than that and allowed him to see a deeper connection;  a connection he had with everyone and every thing that had existed or will exist. The concept was too much for his young mind which was being stretched in a thousand different directions.

He looked across at the old sage who was watching the young man with an enigmatic smile on his face. "Welcome to the flow, it is something you will never be able to describe, for to describe it puts barriers around something that is infinite. It is like trying to hold an ocean in a tea cup. The beauty of the flow is to experience it and to know that you are always connected. Now let's take 24 minutes to meditate and reflect on the lessons we have both received this morning."
The young man and the old sage put aside their packs and sat with their backs touching an old tree as they reflected quietly on what they had experienced that morning. Each in their own world, but both connected in ways they were yet to understand.

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